Electric nail driver



Oct. 17, 1961 J. VAN DEN Z N 3,004,260

ELECTRIC NAIL DRIVER Filed Aug. 25, 1959 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Motor E2 /04Fig.2

John Van Den E/zen /74 INVENTOR.

Oct. 17, 1961 J, VAN DEN E N 3,004,260

ELECTRIC NAIL DRIVER Filed Aug. 25, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 John Van DenEllen 36 IN VEN TOR.

Oct. 17, 1961 .1. VAN DEN ELZEN 3,004,260

ELECTRIC NAIL DRIVER Filed Aug. 25, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 John Van DenE/zen ZNVENTOR.

J. VAN DEN ELZEN Get, 1 7, 1961 ELECTRIC NAIL DRIVER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed Aug. 25, 1959 IVA/L Jab/7 Van Den Ellen INVENTOR.

I 3,004,260 ELECTRIC NAHL DRIVER John Van Den Elzen, 303 S. Washington,De Pere, Wis. Filed Aug. 25, 1959, Ser. No. $36,017 4 Claims. (Cl. 1-46)The present invention generally relates to a machine for driving nailsand more particularly to such a machine which is actuated by an electricmotor and which is manually actuated but provided with an automaticcycle whereby each manual operation will start a sequence of eventswhich will automatically follow each other until the nail driving cyclehas been completed whereupon a second cycle may be initiated by againactuating the manual operating means.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a nail driver inwhich the power of an electric motor is utilized through a clutchelement for causing downward reciprocation of a nail driving plunger fordriving the nail into the surface desired with there being means forlimiting the driving movement of the plunger and automaticallydisconnecting the clutch mechanism upon movement of the plunger to apredetermined lower limit.

Another feature of the present invention is to provide a nail driverhaving a novel rotatable magazine for supporting a plurality of rows ofnails for dispensing in position for engagement by the reciprocatingplunger.

Still another important feature of the present invention is to provide anail driver having novel means for holding the nail and receiving thenail from the magazine for engagement by the plunger.

Yet another important feature of the present invention is the provisionof a hollow housing enclosing the various structural mechanisms forretaining the operating mechanism in clean condition and enabling betterlubrication thereof.

Still other objects of the present invention will reside in itssimplicity of construction, automatic operation, adaptation for itsparticular purposes and its relatively inexpensive manufacturing cost.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the nail driver of the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal, verticalsectional view taken substantiallyupon a plane passing along section line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 illustratingcertain of the details of construction thereof; I

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal, plan sectional view taken substantiallyupona plane passing along section line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 illustratingfurther structural details of the drive and control mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating furtherstructural details of the device; v FIGURE 5 is a transverse, verticalsectional View taken substantially upon a plane passing along sectionline 55 of FIGURE 2 illustrating the structural details of the drivemechanism and of the nail magazine;

FIGURE 6 is a transverse, sectional view taken substantially upon aplane passing along section line 6-6 of FIGURE 1 illustrating furtherstructural details of the plunger; v

FIGURE 7 is a detailed sec 'onal View taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 7-7 of FIGURE 1 for illustrating theconstruction of the magazine;

FIGURE Sis a detailed view showing the loading end 3,904,260 PatentedOct, 17, 1361 of the magazine and the spring tensioned cover therefor;

FIGURE '9 is a sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passingalong section line 99 of FIGURE 5 illustrating the latch mechanism forthe magazine.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10generallydesignates the nailing machine of the present invention whichincludes a generally hollow housing orcasing 12 divided into twoseparable parts along a centrally disposed division line 14 with the twohalves of the housing-being secured together by fastening members 16extending through lugs 18. The two housing components, are designated bythe numeral 20 and the numeral 22 respectively. The housing section 20is provided with a generally U-shaped handle 24 thereon and the housingsection 22 is provided with a generally U- shaped handle 26 thereonwhich handles 24 and 26 are rigidly and integrally formed with thehousing'sections 20 and 22 respectively. The handle 24 is provided withatoggle switch or any suitable type of electric switch 28 forcontrolling the operation of an electric driving motor 23. and forsupplying electrical current thereto from an electrical conductor 30which may be provided with a suitable male plug on the free end thereoffor engagement with a conventional female household plug. The motor 28is supported by any suitable brackets and is disposed between partitionwalls 32 formed in the housing 12' and the motor is provided with anoutput shaft 34 having a spur drive gear 36 thereon in meshingengagement with a larger spur drive gear 38 mounted onan idler shaft 40.The idler shaft 40 is provided with a smaller gear 42 thereon in meshingengagement with a larger spur gear 44 mounted on shaft 46 whichparallels shafts 34 and 40. Thus, a reduction drive arrangement isprovided with the gear 44 forming a drive gear for meshing engagementwith a sliding gear 48 which is fixed to a sliding shaft 50 having aclutch member 52 on one end thereof. The shaft 50 is rotatable andslidable in bearings 54- and a coil compression spring 56 isdisposed inencircling relation to a portion of the shaft 50 and abuts one of thepartition walls 32 at one end thereof and abuts a collar 58 at the otherend thereof with the collar 58 being adjustably secured in position by asetscrew 60 thereby adjusting the tension of the spring 56. The spring,56, is such that it will normally urge the shaft 50 in a direction fordisengaging the clutch member 52 and also disengaging the gear 48 fromthe gear 44. v

v For moving the shaft 50 in the other direction, there is provided-alaterally. extending arm 62 having a slot 64 in one end thereofreceiving the shaft 50. The furcations formed by the slot 64 engage athrust collar 66 .which engages the hub portion of the sliding ormovable gear 48 which is keyed to the shaft 50. The other end of thelaterally extending arm 62 is secured to an elongated operating rod 68by virtue of a pair of collars 70 pinned to the rod 68 by pins 72. Therod 68 is slidably journaled in bearing member 74 in one of thepartitions 32 in ,the casing. One end of the rod 68 is rounded as at 76and engages the free end of an operating lever 78 pivotally supported inthe handle 26 by virtue of a pivot pin 80. The other end of the lever 78is disposed in the path of movement of an operating arm 82 pivotallysupported at the upper end of the handle 26 by a pivot pin 84 with theforward edge of the arm 82 actually forming a trigger so that a persongripping the handle 26 may move the lower end of the arm 82 rear'wardly.A leaf spring 86 is connected to the handle 26 and engages the rear ortrailing edge of the arm 82 for urging the same forwardly. Also, thefree end of the arm 82 is provided with a projection :88 forlimitin-gthe forward movement thereof and also provided with a roundedprojection 90 for engaging the end of the lever 78 opposite from the rod68.

The rearward movement of the arm 82 caused by squeezing of the handle 26will cause forward movement ment with the gear 44 and also sliding theclutch element 52 into positive engagement with a coacting andcooperating clutch element 92 carried by shaft 94. The shaft 94 isjournaled in a bearing 96 supported by a partition wall 32 and islongitudinally orientated by a collar 98 secured in place by a set-screw100. The outer end of the shaft '94 is provided with a pinion gear 102which also serves to orientate the shaft 94 longitudinally so that whenthe clutch elements 52 and 92 are engaged, the shaft 94 and gear 102will be caused to operate. Due to frictional engagement between thegears 48 and 44, the clutch elements 52 and 92 will remain in engagedrelationship even though the trigger arm 82 may be released. However,when there is no driving force being transmitted, the spring 56 willnormally assure that the clutch elements 52 and 92 will be disengagedand also will assure that the gear 48 will disengage from the gear 44.

The pinion gear 102 is in meshing engagement with a gear rack 104 formedon one wall of a vertical slot 106 provided in a reciprocable plunger orhammer member 108 which is guided in its vertical reciprocation by asubstantially T-shaped longitudinal projection designated by the numeral110. The T-shapedlongitudinal projection 110 is provided with laterallyextending vertical flanges 112 which are slidably received incorresponding grooves 114 in a vertical frame member 116 at the forwardend of the housing. Thus, when the gear 102 is rotated in a particulardirection, the rack 104 in meshing engagement therewith will be moveddownwardly thus moving the plunger or hammer 108 downwardly.

One side of the hammer 108 is provided with a laterally extending bolt118 to which a tension coil spring 120 is attached with the upper end ofthe spring 120 being attached to a screw threaded fastener 122 extendingthrough the housing section so that the tension of the spring 120 may beadjusted and also enabling the spring 120 to be easily removed. Thus,the spring 120 urges the hammer 108 upwardly and will normally retractthe hammer to its uppermost position.

For limiting the downward movement of the hammer or plunger 108, thereis provided a stop member 124 adjustably mounted on the same side edgeof the hammer 108 as is the spring 120. This portion of the side edge ofthe hammer 108 is serrated with transverse ridges and grooves 126 forengaging complementary serrations 128 on the stop member 124. The stopmember 124 is provided with a vertically elongated slot 130 thereinreceiving a pair of fastening bolts 132 which extend into the anvil 128with the inner ends of the fastening bolts 132 being received inthreaded bores 134 in the hammer 108. With the fastening bolts 132, theposition of the stop member 124 in relation to the hammer 108 may bevertically adjusted and then securely and rigidly locked in position.

The lower end of the stop member 124 is provided with a reduceddepending projection 136 having a cushioning member 138 attached to thelower surface thereof by any suitable means such as by adhesive. Thecushion 138 is in alignment with a cushion 140 carried by a stop block142 supported on a bottom frame member 144 whereby the coact-ing stopmember 124 and stop block 142 will limit the downward movement of thehammer 108.

The other side edge of the hammer 108, that is opposite from the stopmember 124, is also serrated as indicated by the numeral 146 foradjustably engaging a cam member 148 also having a serrated edge 150.The The cam member 148 is secured by a pair of fastening bolts 152 whichextend through a vertically elongated slot 154 for adjustably mountingthe cam member 148 in position. As illustrated in FIGURE 4, the cammember 148 is provided with an inclined corner edge 156 facing thepartition wall 32. The cam surface 156 is adapted to engage an inclinedcam surface 158 on a cam member 160 carried by the outer end of the rod68. The cam member 160 is slidably received and supported in acorresponding aperture 162 in the forwardmost partition wall 32 whichforms the forward wall for the housing which leaves the cam members 148and 160 exposed as illustrated in FIGURE 1 with the front frame member116 being disposed outwardly therefrom and with the bottom frame member144 forming the bottom for this open area and the top wall of thehousing sections 20 and 22 forming the top wall of this open area.

With this construction, the downward movement of the hammer 108 willcause the cam surface 156 on the cam member 148 to engage the camsurface 158 on the cam member 160 thus forcing the rod 68 rearwardlythereby causing the laterally extending arm 162 to move rearwardlythereby disengaging the clutch members 52 and 92 and disengaging thegear 48 from the gear 44. This action takes place when the hammer hasmoved to its lowermost position as determined by the stop member 24 withthe cam member 148 also being adjusted to correspond to the movement ofthe hammer. As soon as the clutch elements 52 and 92 are disengaged, thespring 120 will serve to retract the hammer 108 to its elevatedposition.

The lower end of the outer surface of the hammer 108 is provided with arecess 164 which receives the upper end 166 of a depending plunger 168which is secured to the hammer 108 by fasteners 170. The plunger 16$extends into the central area of a slot 172 formed in the lower frame144 with the slot having one removable wall formed by a removable plate174 held in position by removable bolts 176. Laterally slidable in theslot 172 is a pair of nail gripping plates 178 and 180. The outer endsof the plates 178 and 180 are provided with a lateral extension 182slidably received in a recess 184. A cornpression coil spring 186 isdisposed in the recess and urges the plates 178 and 180 into grippingengagement with a nail 188 whereby the spring tension formed by springs186 will frictionally retain the nail 188 in position for engagement bythe plunger 168 whereby the plunger 168 will force the nail down throughand between the plates 178 and 780 and discharge the nail through adischarge opening 190 in the bottom of the frame member 144 so that thenail 188 is driven into the floor surface or other surface.

The nails 188 are discharged into the area between the plates 1'78 and180 through the longitudinally extending slot 192. This slot 192communicates with a magazine generally designated by the numeral 194which is received within a circular or tubular housing area 196 extending longitudinally in the bottom of the housing 12.

The magazine 194 includes a central tubular member 198 rotatably mountedon a shaft or rod 200 which has the inner end thereof threaded into asleeve 202 carried by an anchor plate 204. The outer end of the shaft200 is provided with a knurled operating knob 206 to permit removal ofthe rod 200 so that the magazine may be removed. The tubular member 198is provided with a plurality of laterally extending or radiallyextending spaced pairs of plates 208 receiving a plurality of nailstherebetween. A follower is provided for the nails 188 and is designatedby the numeral 210 with there being a spring 212 behind the follower andthe spring 212 has the other end thereof engaged with a pivotal plate214 mounted on a pivot pin 216. A spring 218 is mounted on the pivot pin216 and is arranged axially therewith for resiliently urging the plateor door 214 in closed relation to the opening in the end wall of thehousing which enables the follower and spring to be removed forreplacing the support of nails 118.

When the supply of nails 118 has been discharged from one pair ofconverging plates 208, the outer cylindrical member 220 forms a bearingfor rotating the magazine for aligning another pair of converging plates208 with the slot 192.

A latch is provided for locking the magazine in rotatably adjustedposition with the latch being in the form of a knurled knob setsorew 222having a rounded projecting point 224 extending through one of aplurality of circumferentially spaced apertures 226 in the end wall ofthe magazine thereby securing the magazine in rotatably adjustedposition.

Briefly, the operation of the device is semi-automatic in that each timethe trigger arm 82 is depressed with the motor 28 in operation, acomplete cycle of events will occur resulting in the driving of a nail.When the trigger 82 is depress-ed, the shaft 68 will be moved forwardlythus engaging the clutch elements and also engaging the gear 48 with thegear 44 for rotating the shaft 50 and the shaft 94 thus causing rotationof the spur gear 102. Rotation of the gear 102 causes downward movementof the rack and the hammer connected thereto for driving a nail held bythe nail holding plates. Downward movement of the hammer causes the camelements 148 and 160 to be engaged thus moving the shaft 68 rearwardlyand disengaging the clutch and the drive gear ready for a subsequentsequence of operation. When the clutch is disengaged, the spring willreturn the hammer to its uppermost position thus retracting the plungerand allowing another nail to be forced between the nail holding plates.

Suitable supporting feet or knobs may be provided and the entire devicemay be supported on an angulated base if desired whereby the device maybe used to drive nails in an inclined manner for instance such as whenthe device is used for nailing flooring on in which case the nails aredriven into the edge portions of the boards in an inclined manner.Various lubrication features may be employed where desired and variousbearing materials may be employed for rendering the device long lastingand the particular gears may be varied as to size relationships forvarying the speed and force of the operational stroke of the hammer.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A nail driving machine comprising a generally hollow housing havingan electric motor mounted therein, a reciprocable hammer mounted on thehousing for driving a nail, a rack gear carried by the hammer, a piniongear in meshed engagement with the rack gear for movement of the rackgear and hammer in a reciprocatory manner upon oscillation of the piniongear, and drive shaft means interconnecting the motor and the piniongear for driving the hammer, said drive shaft means including aseparable pair of clutch elements which are manually engaged for causingthe hammer to move in one direction, and means responsive to movement ofthe hammer in said one direction for releasing the clutch elementsthereby enabling the hammer to move independently of said drive shaftmeans, said hammer being provided with spring means connected theretofor resiliently urging the hammer to a retracted position whereby thehammer will automatically return to a retracted position when the clutchelements are disengaged in response to movement of the hammer to anextended position.

2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for releasingthe clutch elements in response to movement of the hammer is said onedirection includes an elongated rod carried by the housing, coacting camelements carried by the rod and the hammer for moving the rodlongitudinally in relation to the housing when the hammer moves toextended position, and means interconnecting the rod and the drive shaftmeans for separating the clutch elements when the hammer moves toextended position.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2 wherein said drive shaft meansincludes a movable shaft section carrying one of the clutch elementsthereon, a laterally extending arm connected to the rod and to themovable section of the shaft for moving the shaft section and the clutchelement mounted thereon in response to longitudinal movement of the rod.

4. The structure as defined in claim 3 wherein said movable shaftsection includes a drive gear rigidly mounted thereon, gear reductionmeans interconnecting the motor and the drive gear, said movable drivegear carried by the movable shaft section being selectively engaged withthe reduction gear means for transmitting motion to the shaft means onlywhen the clutch elements are in engaged position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS371,863 Viser Oct. 18, 1887 1,634,226 Alibert June 28, 1927 2,403,222Howells July 2, 1946 2,680,246 Rambo June 8, 1954- 2,771,609 KlopstockNov. 27, 1966

